‘Historic wave’ of new apartments hitting Las Vegas Valley, report says

A glut of apartment units have come onto the market in the Las Vegas Valley, according to a new report, but construction starts are down substantially from the first quarter of last year.

Approximately 4,600 multifamily units have been delivered over the past 12 months, putting the valley’s total inventory at 193,129, up from 180,165, according to a new report from CoStar Group Inc., a real estate analytics company.

Units under contract hit a high water mark in 2022 (9,041) and net deliveries hit a high mark in 2023 (6,515), and now Danny Khalil, an associate director of market analytics for CoStar, said getting renters into the units is the key.

“It is fair to say that Las Vegas recently experienced a wave of deliveries, or project completions, and now the market is shifting to absorption, with less of an emphasis on active construction,” he said. “Apartments have come online throughout the Las Vegas Valley over past two years, particularly in and around Enterprise, Henderson, Spring Valley, and the far southern reaches of the metropolitan area. Central Las Vegas and the northwestern suburbs have also been no slouch either.”

Khalil said roughly 13,000 apartments were built between the beginning of 2023 through April of this year, marking a massive uptick in units delivered to the valley.

“Now the task shifts to absorbing this historic wave of supply and, for now, Vegas appears to be doing a great job at it,” he said. “Demand, measured in terms of net absorption, essentially matched new supply over the past 12 months and the vacancy rate moved down slightly, away from the double-digit territory that many Sun Belt markets find themselves in this year.”

However, only 342 construction starts on new multifamily units took place in the first quarter of this year, according to CoStar’s data, down approximately 25 percent from the first quarter of 2024 (1,333). The average asking sale price per multifamily unit is also up 13 percent over the past year to $149,000, meaning building apartments has become more expensive.

The vacancy rate for multifamily units in the valley has held steady since 2024 at 9.9 percent, after rising from 8.6 percent in 2022 to 10.5 percent in 2023.

According to the Nevada State Apartment Association’s latest report, Nevada needs to build more apartments to continue to meet continued demand in the valley.

The state faces a multitude of challenges when it comes to offering affordable rental spaces, which is acutely felt in the valley due to its growing population, said Robin Crawford, executive director of the association, which represents more than 197,00 rental housing units in the state, or approximately 70 percent of all the multifamily inventory in Nevada.

Rental rates are down in Henderson but up in Las Vegas, according to a Zumper report as rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Henderson currently sits at $1,530 in April, a 1.3 percent drop from March and a 0.6 percent drop year over year. In Las Vegas, rent for a one-bedroom apartment ($1,230) is up 2.5 percent from March and flat year over year.

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.